


tea, coffee - or me?

by candidshot



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Slice of Life, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 10:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6234991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candidshot/pseuds/candidshot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In her dream, Klaus hijacks a ballroom party, and compels everyone to stand at the side and watch him and his Sweetheart Caroline dance. Days later, he shows up at her window offering coffee, tea or - whatever she wants with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tea, coffee - or me?

_The stars are so close we could touch them_  
_The light is soft and still_  
_[…]_  
_And it’s just like the first time when I touched you_  
_The feeling is still, oh, so right…_

_\- I’d Fall In Love Tonight by Anne Murray_

 

 Caroline and Klaus may not have much in common, but at the fine path at which they meet – it would be that they both love attention. They must always be ‘all-eyes-on-me’ number one.

And so as Klaus hijacks a ballroom party and compels everyone to stand at the side and watch him and his Sweetheart Caroline dance, she doesn’t even scold him nor resist the temptation.

Instead, she takes his outstretched hands and twists them around her thin waist and around and round they twirl, her nose nuzzle in his collarbone, inhaling him and becoming dizzy from his earthy scent that triggers a maddening compulsion. Klaus’ breath smells like cinnamon from tea, and his clothes, a blend of woody incense and lavender. Caroline sucks in her breath, inhaling him fully as they tippy tip toe across the dance floor to Michael Bublé’s rendition of _‘The Way You Look Tonight’._

But soon, the stars say goodbye.

She opens her eyes and blinks at the new dawn, marveling at how her body still feels him from her dream. Her immediate memory of her and Klaus is always either the first day they met on her deathbed, or the last time they met - graduation night, when he promised her his love then bid goodbye. Without thinking further, she takes up her mobile phone, scrolls over names then hovers over Klaus’. Her heartbeats pound loudly and her breathing etches as she anticipates the sweet voice that time and time again, effortlessly undoes her.

And when the call connects and he utters her name in a gentle sound, she says, “do I need to be in some life or death crises before I see you again?”

Klaus then haughtily laughs at her dramatics, “are you in some life or death crises?” he asks.

“No, but---”, she stops, fumbling for words she wished she’d practiced before, “but… I mean, don’t you get tired being in the same place every day?”

An anxious silence follows before he tells her, “don’t come. Stay”.

She hesitates, holding her breath and asks, “why not?”

A quiet laughter filters through the phone as he replies, “it’s a gentleman’s duty to go out and meet his lady. I’m coming to get you, Caroline”.

He didn’t say he would come get her tomorrow, but one morning she blinks and is slowly being awakened by a nostalgic scent carried through the window – a smell that gives the feeling that a good day is about to start. But feeling contented, she almost dozes back into sleep if it weren’t for, “Is _the me_ in your dream that more fascinating than the real me sitting here being fascinated by the dreaming you?” a voice drawls.

Caroline shots up in bed, messy locks of hair dangling from her head, shoulders bare, nightwear loose and thin and is barely covering her naked skin.

Klaus moves away from the window and stoops by her bedside, his eyes raving over her like they’d never before seen beauty like hers – beauty that rivals a fair morning.

“Good morning, Love”, he charms enjoying the way Caroline looks at him like he’s part of a dream.

“What’s for breakfast?” she asks, quick to recover and is in no hurry to cover herself or hide the pink roses budding on her face.

Klaus smirks, his eyes following every movement her body makes, “tea, coffee - or me?”

She gifts him with her first smile of the day, “how many choices do I have?”

With eyes still capturing her like pictures caught on film, the sight of Caroline’s changing into day clothes whets Klaus’ appetite, and before she could fasten the last button on her dress, Klaus is behind her – the tip of his nose feathery against her neck and his fingertips gently pulling her hair, “you can have whatever you like, my dear”.

She breathes in slowly, her tummy trembling with the feel of Klaus against her skin and his low whisper exciting her ears, “then, let’s choose by elimination”, she breathes, “I don’t do tea, and coffee is bad on an empty stomach, so I guess that leaves only one option”.

Klaus hums a dulcet tone and raises his eyebrows in intrigue.

_Me._

Inside his mouth is tasty, Caroline finds – hinting with wine, blood, chocolate and heat as he kisses her lips and fondles her at the nape and at her hips. Each time he wraps his tongue around hers, he nips at the tip and holds her inside his mouth as he slowly tastes and feels his way about - gently kneading into her, keeping her close like a key masterfully fitted to unlock him and keep all to herself.

The smell of morning, the sound of her heart racing, Klaus’ scent – put together - she finds the day unbelievably thrilling.

And when they’re done, he takes her by the hand and she holds onto him finger wrap around finger.

“Caroline’s taste is the best taste in the world”, he says.

She shyly grins at him, still too full of everything Klaus.

“So what were you dreaming about?” he asks.

Finding it perfect timing to play mischief, she only answers, “something good”.

“Is that all I’m getting?”

“That’s a lot you’re getting”, she replies, laughing at a Klaus who's pouting.

 _‘But in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me’,_ he starts to croon – strangely hyperactive, _‘Stars shining bright above you, night breezes seem to whisper, I love you’._

“So you’re mad and in love”, Caroline laughs at him, “talking about stars in broad daylight. What could be more dangerous?”

Klaus laughs, “and yet you love me”.

“Don’t brag”.

He smiles – no – grins at her, “I feel recharged. A kiss from you is like a cure – the way you tilt your head to the side, and the small breaths you take in-between”.

Caroline smiles to herself, recalling her own experience;

Kissing Klaus, is like feeding – warm, sweet and satisfying.

There’s a pensive pause before Klaus adds, “dangerous would be if you were to come along to New Orleans with me. If that were to be so, then I’d become completely helpless. My city would go to ruins because I would spend all my time attending to you”.

She grins at him, “Very funny. The day that happens would be the day Elijah stops wearing suits”, she says, “he would never allow you to sway from your duties”.

Klaus laughs too, “you’re probably right. But, to wake up and watch your eyelashes flutter as you dream. To hear you speak under the same roof, to listen to you breathing beside me, to breathe you in, to feel your heat, Caroline---“,

“I know”, she interjects, “I know this is hardly enough. But you’re here now. And I’m here now. And you love me. And I - I love you. And even though things can’t go on forever like this in limbo – for now, for today, I love you and you love me and---“,

“If speed-talking were an Olympic sport, you’d surely win gold”, he teases, cutting her endless rabble.

She stops, looks at him and catches her breath, “shut up”.

He laughs at her, jaunty and unaffected, “Your dream, was I in it?”

Caroline glows tickled pink, squeezing Klaus’ fingers that are brushing against her palm, “you’re everywhere”.

He smiles, wide and satisfied, “so you’re a worry freak and in love”, he pokes, “what could be more dangerous?”

She chortles and bounces her shoulder into him, “you’ll be paying for breakfast”.

He returns the laugh – low and at peace, “do allow me to. Though each time I enter that teenage infested mediocre eatery otherwise known as the Grill, I feel like a piece of my dignity gets charred”.

She giggles, kindly reminding him that, “you didn’t seem to mind it much when you used to live here”.

He looks at her, like he’s looking into a past encounter, “it wasn’t a matter of me not minding it, Love”, he replies – eyes so focused like he’s reading her soul, “it was more like, you were often there”.

Once again, like a million times before, her heart pulls like tides towards the moon. Klaus is warm beside her. Klaus smells earthy and fruity and the taste and feel of his tongue are still tasty in her mouth.

They do end up at the Grill. And after pulling out her chair for her, and complaining about the cheap no good coffee on the menu, Klaus by chance looks up to see Caroline smiling her usual pretty, wearing a head of sunshine and petite dress up. He finds her always so fetching, inhaling her sweet scent – a scent that’s not her perfume or shampoo, but a scent piquant to his liking - a sweet late springtime smell – a flickering soft fragrance that makes Caroline a rare existence.

“In New Orleans”, he starts, “they mix coffee with chicory. It’s a decades old traditional blend”, he matter-of-factly supplies, still watching, waiting for her eyes to meet his. And when she finally does pay him undivided attention, his face gladdens with a lambent grin, “whenever you come to New Orleans, I’ll make you the best cup of coffee you would have ever had”.

She smiles at him – meaningful and loaded with care.

Caroline grew up.

No longer will she be naïve and fooled into believing that this fickly thing called _love_ , is something that lasts forever.

But then, there’s Klaus’ love;

“That’s one more thing to look forward to”, she tells him, eyes flitting to the sunny day outside.

“And what’s the other thing or other things?” he asks, pushing away the coffee served and is instead being fascinated by the light and shadow the sunlight streaming in, patterns on Caroline’s face.

Klaus’ love;

Be it twenty years, some centuries or a few months, Caroline knows that however long Klaus will love her – she knows that during that time, that he’ll make her everything he loved.

His love, is entire.

She looks up and finds him watching her, his stare vivid with a thin circle of orange-gold about his pupils. She quickly breaks eye contact, becoming aware of the pink splashes warming up her face. But being Caroline, she doesn’t give in to Klaus’ droll expression. She instead clears her throat, leans over swiftly and frankly kisses him – lips and tongue and coffee.

Her love, is entire too.

And so, as she very slowly pulls her lips away, with a sly smile she says, “what am I to do, um?”, watching her refection in his eyes - eyes so hale, so gentle, so affectionate – so calmly seducing her, “first, you raid my dreams, and now you’re sipping bad coffee in front of me”.

For a woman of strict planning, Caroline is full of romantic spontaneity.

Klaus’ core yearns for her even more.

“Caroline”, he says, his eyes dripping with affection, “and what am I to do with you, um?” he asks, hopelessly and goodly convinced that this woman who pulsates with all endearment, vivacity and surprises - is out to get him, “even this bad coffee is starting to sip well”.  
  
She grins, her lips puckering as she leans over halfway across the table, “want me to sweeten it some more?”

And slowly – very slowly her lips fully unfurl like pink blossoms of springtime cherries.

Klaus felt his heart explode.

Klaus, is glad that he’s mad and in love.

★*☆♪

~tea, coffee - or me?  
klaus x caroline


End file.
